Time Twisted
by 3rased
Summary: When the ID crew discovers a rune that can open the door to the future, it leads them to our familiar MI crew. But when the villians they thought they escaped from follow them through the pathway, will new friends be their savior? Full summary inside.
1. The Future Unlocked

** Despite how much I would love to, I don;t own the Infernal Devices Series by Cassandra Clare, which sadly means that I don't own Jem or Will. Nor do I own the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, which also means I don't own the very delicious Jace :(**

**What I DO own is the plot, along with my original characters that you haven't met yet. :)**

**Full Summary: **_When the Infernal Devices Cast uncovers a never-before seen rune, it leads them to the future, where they meet the Mortal Instruments Cast. Everything seems to be going great, until problems and people from the past follow them through time into the present. Not to mention that Jem and Jessamine have found something to tether them to at time that is not their own. Will new additions to the main ensemble help defeat the Pandemonium Club and find the missing Downworld leaders? Will the characters from the past remain in the present?_

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><p>Jem eyed the broken off sliver of glass warily, his silver eyes staring intently at the mirror-like object. "I honestly haven't the slightest clue about how this relates to the Downworlder case," he said with a questioning glance at Will, who was standing next to him, holding a witchlight over Jem's head to illuminate the darkness. They were standing just by the docks, where the air was usually dense and humid. But that night, it was actually clear enough that you could see the stars and inhale the fresh air. Tessa was just several paces back, her mind clearly elsewhere.<p>

"Perhaps there is an inscription on the back," Tessa pointed out. Nodding, Jem cautiously flipped the thin material over, careful to not break it apart. Nothing.

Will, snatched the fragile item from Jem and held it at eye level. "There," he said, touching a faint drawing of sorts, "It appears that it is a rune," Will concluded.

Tessa skittered up to him, their shoulders just barely touching. Tessa had expected him to shy away or tense up, but she no longer gave a care. Though even the slightest touch between them sent shock waves through her body. Jem casually walked over to them, the tapping of his cane on the cobblestone street eerily audible throughout the dark street.

"Are you aware of which rune it is, Will?" asked Jem, who had a curious look about his face.

Shaking his head, Will handed it to Jem, who examined the sharp fragment of glass closely. "I think it may be a rune for foresight," he stated. The bold lines on the rune made the shape of an eye, very much similar to the runes that Will and Jem had on the backs of their hands.

"And that looks like a pathway!" Tessa pointed out. Could it finally be another clue to her heritage?

Will shook his head, a look of disapproval on his face. "No, that is clearly a door." Tessa could tell that he was trying to refrain from speaking her name, holding it back. He no longer welcomed her with a joking smirk and a sarcastic remark, but with a criticizing glare and some insult. She didn't want to think about the details. But did Will truly and deeply no longer have feelings for her?

Just beside her Will swore to himself. How he so desperately wanted to crawl away from Tessa, or to her, perhaps. It somewhat hurt him to say those hurtful things on the widow's walk only several days ago, but he shook it off. Feelings were feelings. And he was a Shadowhunter before anything else. Nevertheless, he felt a stab of pain every time her pushed her away, every time he ignored her, but he had to. A Nephilim and a warlock, together? Rubbish. But every chance he got, whenever Tessa wasn't looking, he'd admire her. Her raw, simplistic beauty, her sense of humor, the way she was so innocent and unaware of the world around her...

"Er... Will? Tessa?" Jem clicked his cane against the ground impatiently, disrupting his friend's train of thought. "Are we to return to the Institute or wait for the rain to come?"

Startled, both Will and Tessa looked to the sky, simultaneously. The once clear sky was clouding up, the gray clouds looking as though they were glowing.

Back in the Institute, the trio was considerably dampened by the rain, which had gone down to a slow drizzle by the time they returned. Like a gentleman, Jem held open the door and ushered Tessa inside with a playful grin, leaving Will scowling outside.

The Institute was a lot more quiet since Thomas and Agatha had died.

Jessamine and Charlotte had volunteered to cook the evening meals, but no one was really doing the maintenance work, considering that Henry was always in his laboratory conducting strange experiments and inventing things and dissecting things, and that Will and Jem were always training or fighting demons or doing whatever it was that boys did. Tessa would have volunteered, but she was no expert when it came to handiwork and fixing things. Sophie had grown much more silent since the deaths of Thomas and Agatha, often keeping to herself and the laundry baskets.

Charlotte often said that she would hire new "replacements" as Will liked to call them, though she never had. The thought of replacing good servants and loyal friends had mortified her, though Will has explained that Charlotte was just having trouble looking for people who wanted to do some unpaid labor.

Tessa looked around the Institute. She remembered how it once appeared glamorous and stunning to her, but now it was plain, ordinary, and in much need of cleaning. She, Jem and Will crept up the stairs and into their rooms, though the sounds of their footsteps was like thunder in the ever-silent church. As Tessa was closing the door to her room, she heard the slight _meow _of a cat and smiled to herself as the sound of a violin echoed through the hall.

The next morning, Tessa woke to find that Sophie was already in her room, setting down her tea and setting down a white dress with a light blue trim. Just several days after the "clockwork invasion" Jessamine insisted that Tess accompany her to the city and purchase some clothes to clear their minds, which is why there was a new dress neatly placed at the foot of her bed. Seeing that Tessa was awake Sophie shrouded her face with her hair and made for the door, her shoes silent against the hardwood. The girl looked so quivery and disheveled that if Tessa hadn't known better, she would've mistaken her for a ghost.

Not stopping to think, Tessa blurted out a strangled, "Wait!"

Sophie looked up, a dark iris peering out from the hair draped in front of her face.

Gulping, Tessa motioned for her to sit in the chair next to her bed. Sophie walked over groggily and plopped into the seat, her black hair swaying in front of her face. Tessa tried to brush the hair out of Sophie's face, but the girl pulled away, as if touched by flames.

"S-Sophie," Tessa whispered, testing out the name, seeing if Sophie would flinch. But the girl sitting across from her was as silent as ever.

Sophie remained silent.

Giving up, Tessa excused the raven-haired girl. As Sophie hurtled out the door, Tessa caught a glimpse of her eyes, which were red a and puffy. Tessa recognized the attribute, for she had cried multiple times throughout the past couple of months. She would cry for hours, or minutes, or days even. She'd cry whenever she thought of her Aunt, or Nathaniel, or being alone or imprisoned, like at the Dark Sister's old brothel.

Standing up, Tessa strode into the corner, where the bath was. Skimming the water with her fingers, she found that it was already quite warm. Stripping off her nightgown, Tessa stepped into the tub, fighting the urge to thrust her head underwater and keep it there.

Once she had change into the blue dress, Tessa sat in the chair in front of the vanity mirror and looked at the reflection of herself. She had gained a bit of weight since she escaped from the brothel, which was good, in a sense. Her once bone-thin wrists had filled out a bit, and the color had started coming back to her face. Dark circlets still remained under her eyes, and Tessa could see bruises on her arms from where she had been brutally manhandled by the clockwork creatures. In her reflection she only saw bits and fragments of Tessa Gray. She recognized the light gray eyes and the plain brown hair, but everything else seemed different.

Tessa looked away from the mirror and down at her chest, where only days ago she had stabbed herself, or pretended to stab herself. Sometimes she hoped that she had really just drove the knife into her heart and spared herself the heartache that surrounded her now. After all, it wouldn't be very long until the Magister had found out that she was alive and tried to steal her away again.

Standing up, Tessa looked away from her mirror and found herself making her way to the door and to the dining room, where Henry and the other Shadowhunters were patiently awaiting her presence.

Much to her disappointment, Tessa found that there was no breakfast on the table. There was only the broken shard that Jem and Will had discovered the other night. All of the Nephilim had crowded around the table, and more importantly, Henry.

"May I have everyone's attention!" Henry said, everyone turning their eyes onto him. Well, almost everyone. Will was staring off into the distance, and Jessamine was looking at her feet.

Charlotte cleared her throat, and five pairs of eyes glanced up at her. She gave a slight nod to Henry, who began speaking. "Friends and dearest wife, after hours of studying this fragment of what I believe to be a mirror and comparing the rune printed on it-."

"Just tell us what you came up with," Will interrupted with a growl. His expression was full of impatience. Classic Will. Charlotte gave him a look of scorn and paid her attention back to Henry, who appeared as if he were about to burst with excitement.

"Please continue, darling."

Though the room was quite chilly, Henry wiped a bead of sweat that was rolling down his forehead. Church the cat, who was sitting on Jem's lap, could even sense Henry's nervousness. His hands were trembling and he had to place the piece of mirror onto the table before he dropped it. "You may not believe it, but... uh," Henry started.

"Get on it with it, then!" Jessamine shouted. She slammed a gloved hand onto the table, with shook fiercely.

Tessa was surprised. Henry wasn't often as jittery and nervous as he was now. She had lived in the Institute for almost several weeks now, and even she knew Henry was full of energy. He never could hold back introducing a new invention, or idea. But right then, he had that same excited looked in his green eyes, though the rest of his body told the others another story.

Charlotte gave another heart-stopping glare and sent it to Jessamine, who rolled her eyes.

"As I was saying, after careful examination, I discovered that the rune on this chunk of mirror is, as James here first predicted, the rune of foresight. But the rune behind it was an Open rune."

"So what has that got to do with anything?" Jessamine questioned.

"It could mean a lot of things. Foresight open, future open, foresight unlocked..." Will piped from his seat, directly across from Jessamine.

Jem looked up from Church, who purred loudly. "Or future unlocked," he finished.

* * *

><p><strong> So that was my entire first chapter! And before you point it out, yes I know it was kind of short, but I really wanted to get this idea down before it went away. Hopefully I'll have a longer chapter by this weekend or next week, but who knows? Anyways, pretty, pretty PLEASE R&amp;R!<strong>

**P.S. I understand that there have been MANY crossovers with MI & ID, but I hope to make one slightly different (or considering how many X-overs there are with this a story with combined concepts) than the others. I just really wanted to get this idea over and done with. XP**


	2. Identified

Identified

Like in the books, specifically the Infernal Devices, I have decided to post lyrics from a poem (or song) I highly suggest you listen to the song because it ties into the chapter and gives it that goooood mojo.

"_You're takin' me under, stolen my thunder, and I think I'm all outta fight, I want you to win. All that I ever was, is burning in this lust. Your love is a weapon and it's turning me to dust. D is for Dangerous,"- Allison Iraheta, "D is for Dangerous"_

Clary tumbled out of her bed, rising from the incredulous stupor that was sleep. She glanced up at the bare walls of her room at the Institute, the only decorations adorning her plain room being sketches and her dirty clothes, which were strewn about everywhere. It felt nice spending some time in New York, with the Lightwoods, and Jace. Fumbling around for her dresser handle, Clary opened the drawer to reveal plain graphic t-shirts and tank tops. She removed her night shirt, which had been stained with demon ichor for some reason, and replaced it with a black t-shirt. Moving for the door, Clary groaned. She had still been wearing her boxers. With a sigh, Clary stumbled over to the drawer and lazily pulled out a pair of jeans. As she struggled to pull the tight-fitting pants on, Clary cursed Isabelle for her sense of fashion. Fully dressed, Clary opened her door and walked out into the hall.

Her sense of smell seemed to smell the scent of either burning waffles or burning pancakes coming from the kitchen and Clary decided to walk in the other direction, in the case that Isabelle was attempting to make breakfast.

Clary sprang up as she heard a faint meow come from behind her. Turning she found that it was just Church, who gave a satisfactory purr. "Hey Church," Clary said casually, as if she spoke to cats regularly. "Where is everyone?"

The cat appeared to nod in the direction of the kitchen and started walking, his padded feet making a soft thump noise on the floor. Mumbling a curse under her breath, Clary followed after Church. She hoped that Isabelle's burnt breakfast food tasted better than it smelled.

When she walked into the kitchen, which was quite small compared to the other rooms at the New York Institute, Clary noted that there were, indeed, pancakes burning on the stove, though no one was present in the room. She quickly switched off the burner so the Institute wouldn't burst into flames.

Church continued streaming through the halls, and gave a loud meow. Clary almost thought that Church was giving her an attitude. She scowled. Ungrateful cat.

She turned on her heel and went out into the hall. She would find the others by herself.

And she did just that.

Clary had found all the Lightwoods in the library, with the exception of Robert and Maryse, who had gone to Idris on some special occasion. Clary vaguely remembered Maryse mentioning something about a curious Downworlder case. Isabelle was browsing through one of the mundane magazines, while Alec and Jace were whispering to each other in the corner of the room. Everyone looked up as she entered the room, probably aware of her presence because of her clumsy footing.

Luckily, Jace caught her by the arm before she tumbled forward, face-first into the hardwood floor.

"Uh," Clary said graciously, looking up into Jace's dim gold eyes, "Thanks." Despite their strong and loving relationship, Clary couldn't help but feel unworthy of Jace. She immediately wiped the worried look off her face as she saw that Jace was staring intently into her eyes, observing her expression.

"Is something wrong?" Jace asked, his face just inches from hers. She could smell him, and all she wanted to do then was snuggle on the couch and watch the fire that blazed in the fireplace. But they had an audience, who were both grinning like idiots. Clary realized that she and Jace were still the an uncomfortable position: him bending over her and her frozen in her classic mid-fall position, with her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. They looked like they were about to spring up and do the tango.

Masking her concern, Clary gave a smile and leaned in to whisper in Jace's ear. "You can let go of me now."

Though unable to see his face from the angle she was positioned at, Clary knew that Jace was smirking. "What if I don't want to?" Jace replied.

"Jace, let go of me."

"Yes ma'am," Jace said, hauling Clary back on her feet. It took her awhile to gain her equilibrium again, but she eventually stood straight and casually sat down in the armchair by Isabelle, who went back to reading her magazine. Jace and Alec resumed their conversation in a hushed tone. Clary couldn't make out the words.

The chime of a bell rang through the Institute and Jace and Alec instantly shot up, the parabatai quickly striding through the halls, their footsteps still audible, even after they had rounded the corner into the adjacent hall. Eventually the echo of their shoes faded, and that's when Isabelle and Clary looked at each other. Time to go, before they make idiots out of themselves, said Isabelle's expression. The two girls, one raven-haired, the other red headed, stood up with much similarity to the duo that had just exited the room, and silently made their way to the foyer.

Alec and Jace opened the door, bright sunlight filtering into the main hall of the Institute. Outside, it was sunny with a brilliant turquoise sky. For a day in New York, it was pretty nice, especially because there wasn't a trace of rainclouds or fog in the distance. Turning their attention to the visitors, Jace and Alec raised an eyebrow.

It appeared that the persons who dared to enter the Institute were mundane teens. Not just the regular kind that they usually read about in books. They weren't preps or jocks, or the awkward nerdy kids, or the geeky Star Wars fanatics.

No, this seemed like one of those odd teenagers that stories rarely mentioned, the seemingly ordinary ones. An outsider.

The eldest looking girl's hair was unruly, with choppy black and ice-white layers strewn about her fair skinned face, and awkward, uneven bangs covering one of her eyes, which were an unnatural indigo hue. She was skinny, with bone-thin wrists and long, scarred fingers. Jace noted that her fingernails were either chewed down to the nub or long. She wore a plain t-shirt with the words "1 Life 2 Live" printed in typographic lettering. Her shoes were worn out Chuck Taylors, and propped right by them was a beat-up leather trunk. The parabatai could barely make out the faded words printed on the side.

The boy, who appeared to be around Clary's age had black hair, probably dyed, that rested just above his eyes, swept to the left of his face, slightly covering his hazel-green eyes. The boys saw that his skin was lightly tanned, dotted with freckles. He looked skinny, but under his shirt Jace could see muscle. He was wearing a lime green hoodie and straight-legged jeans. His hands were shoved into his hoodie pockets. He also had a trunk.

And then there were two others, another boy and girl. But they actually seemed to be related. Brother and sister maybe?

She was golden blonde, but again, her hair was probably dyed, because her brown roots were poking out through the mass of golden curls, almost the same color as Jace's. Her eyes were wide and grey, with hints of other colors. The girl was clearly fourteen or fifteen. She was wearing a black tank-top and jean shorts cut at about mid-thigh, and wearing flip-flops.

He was probably a little older than her, if not taller. Rather than having blonde hair, the boy had natural mahogany-colored hair, cut short. His eyes were the same color as his sisters eyes, but more narrow and sad. He wore a loose t-shirt, which was probably what made him look thinner, and basketball shorts. Black Converse were on his feet.

These children, too, had trunks.

The most intriguing thing about them?

The scars and callouses that decorated their skin.

No, these teens were definitely not ordinary.

In a hostile voice, the older girl finally spoke. "We need your help."

"Sleepover's gonna be the next block over, kids. Sorry," Jace pulled back, and began to shut the doors, when Alec jabbed him in the stomach.

"Get their bags, bellboy."

When Isabelle and Clary had finally caught up to the boys,darting behind walls and doors, they saw that they were not alone. A acquaintances were with them. Two girls and two boys. One of the girls had blonde hair turning brown at the roots, while the other had dark, sliver streaked hair and startling violet-blue eyes. The two boys, one with faux black hair, the other with dark brown hair. All had the scars of Nephilim.

With a pang of jealousy, Clary found herself envying the new Shadowhunters. From the looks of how many scars they had, Clary could tell that these girls were experienced Shadowhunters. And they were beautiful, too. Clary could hardly keep herself away from the fact that since there were new girls around, Jace might just leave her. After all, even Church knew that he was the "player" type.

Unaware of how many eyes were fixed onto them, the new teens kept to themselves, most, namely the brunette and the dark-haired girl, who was staring at the floor as she walked, as if she were afraid of tripping on the smooth ground beneath her tattered shoes.

"So," started Alec, hoping to make small talk and find out who this newcomer was. " What're your names?"

The girl's face looked up at Alec, who was at least several inches taller than her, but the girl was slumping down, so Clary couldn't tell for sure. "Ophelia. Ophelia Whitecrop," She pointed to her friends, one by one. "The blonde one's Vivian Heirwell, her brother is Levi. That's Gage Quinn." Ophelia looked down the floor again. The group of Nephilim had passed Clary and Izzy's hiding spot.

Jace, who was clutching what looked like several suitcases of sorts gave the dark corner a slight glance. "You girls can come out now," he called out without turning back. Isabelle and Clary sped out from the shadows to catch up with the others.

Alec peered behind him and then looked back to Ophelia. "So where are you from?" Alec inquired, a curious gleam in his eyes. Ophelia shuddered and wrapped her arms around her upper body. She rotated her neck just enough to see that Jace was struggling to lift their trunks. Hesitating, Ophelia wondered if she should be a kind and helpful soul and go help him with her belongings, but she decided to leave it. Ophelia smirked when she heard Jace grunt as he tried to lift up the trunk.

"What," Jace started, "is in these goddamn bags?"

Ophelia gave a little smile. She could momentarily avoid Alec's question while the golden boy struggled with her suitcase. "Clothes, weapons, and other," Ophelia paused to let the suspense sink in. She had a thing for dramatics. She continued, "items."

The other Nephilim raised their eyebrows. Well, everyone except Clary, though she had tried to. "You're kidding, right?" Jace said skeptically.

Ophelia didn't bother responding, though Vivian did.

"She's not."

Clary couldn't tell which "type" Ophelia was. You know: outgoing, satirical, creative, bookworm. You get the idea. But Ophelia seemed so awkward, leaning in to one side then scooting as far away from it as possible. Just several minutes ago, she seemed shy and nervous, and now she's seemed to have grown an ego almost as big as Jace's. And that's saying _a lot_. One thing was for sure, and that was that Ophelia was dangerous. More dangerous than her other friends seemed, anyway.

The quintet stopped in the hall where Clary's room was. Opening one of the doors, Isabelle motioned for the others to come in and for Jace to drop one of the trunks on the bed. "I'll bring you some fresh sheets," Isabelle said, scurrying out and into the hall. She waved for the others to join her and led them to adjoining rooms. Alec leaned against the wall, his shoes, which hadn't been cleaned in awhile, scuffed the wall, leaving a dirty mark that had traces of demon innerds and ichor. Yuck.

"Well, we'll leave you to yourself," Jace told Ophelia, cleverly navigating his way around Clary so that he could get out of the room and avoid being scolded by Isabelle, who'd have been back at any second, who would tell him to be nicer to their guest.

Clary's hand shot out, faster than she'd expected herself to, gripping Jace's wrist. "How about we feed her first?" When Clary tightened her grip, Jace made no move to stop her. He only nodded. Clary let go of his hand, and he immediately rubbed the numbness out of his fingers.

"Looks like your training's going well," muttered Jace. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alec stifle a laugh. Rolling his eyes, Jace gestured for Ophelia to follow him. "Kitchen's this way. Go and grab your buddies."

Satisfied, Clary gave a grin as Ophelia high-fived her on the way out the door. Hearing Jace snort made her feel even better.

"Nice job," Alec said from behind her. Clary didn't realize he was still in the room.

"Its what girlfriends do."

When Clary had crossed the hall and entered her room, she collapsed on her bed. Closing her eyes, she had hoped to silently drift off into sleep, but it was just too hard. Letting out a long sigh, Clary turned her head to the right and looked inside her closet. She heard a faint buzz and something glowed from inside her jacket pocket. Getting up and pulling out her phone. She saw that there were at least seven texts from Simon, and nearly as many missed calls. Clary called him, he was on speed dial, and he finally picked up fro the third ring.

"Clary?" Clary heard him, his voice rattling with static. "Clary is that you?"

"Yeah, It's Clary."

"Where are you? I've been waiting at Taki's for the last hour! Did something happen?"

Clary smacked her forehead with her palm. She had totally forgotten about meeting Simon at Taki's. Oh crap.

"Clary? You still there?" She heard Simon say.

"Yeah. Just hold on a sec, I'm on my way." Clary hung up before Simon could say anything else, probably something like, _"No, that's okay. You seem caught up in your own stuff. Maybe next time." _There was no way that she would blow Simon off again. Slipping on a pair of sneakers, Clary sprinted out into the hall.

Right when she turned the corner, Clary smacked straight into Jace. "Hey, where are you going?" He probed.

"No time, heading to Taki's, meeting Simon," Clary shouted as she ran through the halls of the Institute. She heard the pounding of footsteps behind her and saw that Jace was catching up to her. _Darn these short legs,_ Clary thought.

"If you're meeting your leech friend then you should take me with you," Jace huffed out. He had finally caught up to Clary. "He might bite."

Clary shook her head and plowed ahead. She wouldn't give Jace the satisfaction of seeing her tire out. Spotting the large doors that led to the outside world, Clary burst through them, sunlight catching her red hair, making it glow like the embers of a fire. Looking behind her, Clary didn't see Jace. Turning her head, she saw that he was already ahead of her, hailing a taxi. Frowning, Clary slowed her pace. By the time she reached him, she had slowed to a steady jog and was panting heavily. "Not fair," she managed to say through a series of inhaling and exhaling. "Not fair."

Jace opened her car door and waved Clary into the taxi, ruffling her hair. "You forget about my years of training and experience."

Minutes later, the couple strolled into Taki's hand-in-hand. Simon, who was sitting at a table in the corner, waved Clary over, though his spirit seemed to drop when he saw Jace come out from behind her. Clary swerved in and out as she tried to avoid bumping into the many Downworlders, but she accidentally nudged a waiter who was offering a pale woman a smoothie-like drink, which ended up being spilled onto her dark dress. Before anyone could notice who had bumped into the waiter, except for Jace, who, as always, was paying painfully close attention to Clary. Sidling through the gaps between people's bodies, Clary finally arrived at the table. She waved in greeting to Simon, who nodded in acknowledgment. A delicate touch at her waist told Clary that Jace had arrived, too. Beaming, Jace and Clary sat in the seat opposite Simon.

Simon passed out a menu to Jace, who opened it up wide enough so that Clary could order. After several minutes of arguing over what to order, Clary and Jace agreed on splitting a burger. Simon ordered nothing.

"I already ate," he explained. Clary nodded. Jace shrugged. Clary gave Jace a slight smile.

"Thanks for behaving," Clary whispered. She squeezed his hand.

Though he had not meant him to, Simon had heard her. "Super hearing, remember?" He said, flashing a sharp-toothed grin. Clary winced at seeing his fangs, though she had been getting used to it. Seeing Clary's discomfort, Simon retracted his fangs. "Sorry," he began. "It's getting to be a habit."

Clary waved his apology away. "It's okay, I'm just not entirely used to new Simon."

After that, a waitress dropped off their orders, and Clary and Jace dug in.

"So what's up?" Jace asked, the first time he had spoken since entering the restaurant.

"Excuse me?"

Jace slammed his face into his palm. "What is up? As in why did you ask me and Clary to come and eat lunch?"

"Correction," Clary started, "Simon invited _me_ to lunch, not you."

"Yeah, whatever," Jace responded with an eye roll.

Simon looked troubled by the question. "How about I tell you on the way back to the Institute?" He said while motioning for a waitress to bring him the check.

"So let me get this straight," said Clary, "Vampire clan leaders are disappearing?"

Simon nodded. "But not just vampires. I heard that werewolves and warlocks had been going missing too."

The trio had been decided to walk to the Institute. Clary and Simon had been chatting away for at least thirty minutes, while Jace kept a little ahead, his pale hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans.

Noticing his strange behavior, Clary got a sudden light bulb moment. "But you already knew that, didn't you, Jace?" Clary noticed that he stiffened, but continued walking. That was what he and Alec had been talking about before the new arrivals.

Simon ignored her comment. He didn't want to get in between one of those "boyfriend/girlfriend" fights. "Anyway, most of the clans with leaders have gone into hiding, in order to keep them safe and all."

The Institute loomed over them, casting a wide shadow that stretched almost to the opposite street. Mundanes never noticed it, because the Institute was shrouded by a magic called glamour.

"You should come inside, meet the new kids," Clary said.

Simon shook his head. "Sorry, I can't. I'm a vampire, remember?"

"Holy ground, right," Clary replied. She always kept forgetting about Simon being a vampire. It was probably because of his Daylighter ability. After all, most vampires would burn up in direct sunlight. "Well, uh, bye."

Simon waved in farewell, then disappeared out of sight as he turned the bend.

Clary and Jace started up the steps and crept into the halls of the Institute.


End file.
